Get this (Gocco) Party Started!

This past weekend Miss K came over from Dallas to hang out, visit old friends and of course, have a killer Gocco party! I have to admit, I was a little scared of when this moment would come. After all, these were going to be THE invitations and there was NO turning back. However, we got SO much done this weekend and it couldn’t have turned out better!

I have to thank her times a million for her help! If you happen to see her in the big D, thank her again for me, will ya? Ok, just kidding! 🙂

We started off our adventure at the cupcake shop, since I had some gift cards that were about to expire. So, we bought cupcakes…lots of them.

We also went to the mall, met Mr. Ballet Flat for lunch and got last minute supplies for invitations at Michael’s. (I used my 25% off entire purchase coupon, which you can find in any Martha Stewart Weddings magazine.)

Then, with my 8.5×11 Stardream paper in hand, we went to Kinko’s (my no fail place to get the paper cut perfectly) to get the Stardream chopped up into the invitation sized pieces I wanted. Unfortunately, due to finals at LSU and holiday shipping, Kinko’s was too busy to cut right then and there. There would be a 2-3 hr. wait. The problem was, we couldn’t wait really.

So, we went back to the house and Mr. Ballet Flat could tell that I was NOT happy. Mr. Ballet Flat’s genius self mentioned Office Depot across the street. I called them to see if they could do it, and they said yes!! Then, I asked for prices and it was CHEAPER than Kinkos. Then, the kicker… they weren’t busy! So, we got our paper cut right in front of us! SCORE! The only problem is, their machine was older and *slightly* off in measurements. However, it’s nothing too noticeable, I think.

Then, our Gocco party really got started! Check out the cupcakes we were eating up during the Gocco party!

We worked on gocco’ing the gold fleur de lis on the bronze paper for the invitation background first. Then, we made the RSVPs on the opal paper. Here are the RSVP’s sitting out to dry. I had to mix turquoise with a little bit of black ink to achieve the teal color I wanted. Unfortunately, Riso retired the teal ink color and I couldn’t find it online!

I was really tempted to do fun RSVPs with silly replies for options, but Mr. Ballet Flat was TOTALLY against that idea (as it might confuse the older guests).

When the RSVPs were drying, we started taping the bronze paper backing to the pocketfolds. We just used simple Scotch double sided tape to do the job. Cheap and works!

Then, we placed the vellum invites over the bronze backing, using bronze brads to attach them. We used a tiny 1/16″ hole puncher to make the holes in the paper for the brads to go through.

Here’s a look at our invitations. Sorry about the shadow. That’s my hand on the camera! We printed white ink on vellum. It ended up drying with a nice shimmer, and while it may be hard to read on it’s own, the bronze backing provides some great readability (oh gosh, I feel like a Bud Light commercial…you know, drinkability? haha!).

We did two brads on top in case our guests are curious to see both sheets separately, and plus, it’s a little cheaper that way.

So far, I really LOVE the way these turned out. I had trouble visualizing them, but between my ideas, Mr. Ballet Flat’s and Miss K’s, these invitations are da bomb! (backtrack to high school here!)

Next on the list? Gocco the return address on the RSVP envelopes and gocco the map/directions card as well! Stay tuned!

Have you been a little intimidated by a DIY project, only for it to turn out BETTER than you expected?